Unemployed

For the first time in my adult life I am unemployed. I spent my first month in NZ finishing my application to work here, and now that is complete and I am free to spend my days however I please (for a little while at least!)

Last week I spent a day biking along the beaches in the harbor.


Public swimming pools are called "baths" here. This one, below, is right by our house. It is filled with filtered salt water, and P, who has been to it many times with her school, reports that the water tastes bad for a long time if you get some in your mouth.


On one of our first weekends here we took the ferry to Devonport on the north shore and explored the old tunnels at North Head (B can tell you more about that later). I really enjoyed walking along the beach that day. P and I looked at seashells and collected sea glass and I discovered that sea glass is like candy for my soul. Last week I got back on the ferry with hopes of spending my day at the beach wallowing in soul candy. Obviously I did not grow up near the ocean. Up to now I have entertained whimsical notions of the sea and how the tides work. Evidently we visited the beach at low tide. On my return trip I couldn't find the beach and it took me longer than it should have to realize the beach was completely submerged by the high tide. I decided to make the best of it and wandered over toward the Navy base (it seems the whole NZ Navy fleet consists of 3 boats), where I found this mine monument. Aucklanders really seem to enjoy installing fountains, monuments, statues and plaques. This mine, along with 400 others, was placed in a mine field by the HMAS Bungaree in 1942 between Tiri Tiri Matangi island and someplace called "the Noises" to protect Auckland from enemy submarines during WWII.


P and I walked out to watch B's final Wednesday night sailing race. The boats were too far away for us to really follow the action - not much of a spectator sport. Next time I'll have to bring my spyglass. (B was not on any of the boats below, I just thought they were pretty. You can see a Navy boat lit up in the background.)

This week it is raining which has lead to new adventures. Today I learned that jeans are the worst clothes to walk in when they are soaking wet, and that I either need to use less soap or a longer rinse cycle when washing clothes as my jeans were covered in bubbles by the time I got home!